Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) not to carry out any demolition at the Goregaon residence of Kapil Sharma till November 23. This has come as a big relief for the ace comedian, who has challenged the civic body’s notice, alleging unauthorised construction by him.

The tussle between the civic body and Sharma reached the high court with the latter challenging the MCGM notice, alleging illegal construction in his 18-storey DLH Enclave building in Goregaon. He lives on the ninth floor of the same building.

The comedian had grabbed headlines after he tweeted, saying MCGM officials were demanding Rs 5 lakh bribe from him. He had also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the said tweet, asking him about the ‘Achhe Din’.

Since September, Sharma has been in the news with the MCGM filing an FIR against him for destroying mangroves and also for illegal construction at both his office in Versova and Goregaon residence. During the hearing of Sharma’s plea, his counsel urged the division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai to give his client interim relief by restraining the civic body from carrying out any demolition at his house.

In his petition, Sharma said: “The property in question was purchased by the petitioner (Sharma) in February 2010. The petitioner obtained a Commencement Certificate from MCGM in April 2010 to start the construction of the said building up to 18 floors.”

The petition further said, “After completion of construction of the said property ‘as per the approved plan’, the civic body granted a ‘Full Occupation Certificate’ in November 2013.”

It went on to say that in November 2014, P/South Ward of the civic body issued a notice to Sharma under section 351 of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act. Section 351 is used to issue a show cause notice when the civic body finds that a building, or part of a building, is constructed contrary to the ‘approved plan’.

According to Sharma, “The civic body alleged of ‘unauthorised construction’ by merger of elevated features, duct, void and part podium in several flats of the building, including the one in which the artist resides.”

The petition further stated that in December 2014, the city civil court in Dindoshi, Goregaon, had granted an interim relief to Sharma and directed the civic officials not to carry out any demolition at the said plot.

“The civic body never challenged the order of the Dindoshi court and rather, in April this year, an Assistant Engineer from the civic body again issued a notice under section 53 (unauthorised construction) of the Maharashtra Region and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966,” the petition read.